Baidu’s Haokan extends video length to five minutes to take on Douyin

Vlogging on.

Baidu’s Haokan short video platform (Haokan translates to “intriguing”) will begin hosting videos that run for three to five minutes, Chinese media outlet Jiemian.com reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The search giant declined to comment on this developmental refocus when contacted by KrASIA on Friday.

Haokan, which hosts short videos that are 15 seconds in length, had 19 million daily active users at the end of 2018, a significant leap from its 1 million count a year prior, stated Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, when the company announced its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2018 results on February 21.

“In addition, we have increased spending in channel and brand marketing over the last year, to increase awareness and drive traffic growth for the family of Baidu apps, including Baidu App, Haokan, and [short video platform] Quanmin,” said the company in its annual report.

“We expect marketing costs to rise in absolute dollars, as we plan to promote all three apps and other products, if we find such promotions to be effective,” it added.

While Baidu is betting big on its apps, ByteDance is also promoting its vlog feature to reach a wider audience and keep users engaged. Its short video app Douyin—the domestic equivalent to TikTok—now lets users post videos that run for one minute instead of just 15 seconds.

Douyin is also offering special “vlogger” certifications for the best video creators.